
Class L_ 

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Copyright N°. 



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COPyRJGHT DEPOSITS 




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AjJJImwa^'V/mi. aXiy'v^ <A ^onL 




That Old Man 
AND HIS Dream 



. 3 








9'?3,i 



3023 



Published by the Author, Charles G. Chase, 
lo Central Street, Boston. 

Copyrighted 1893 bv Charles G. Chase. 



Illustrated and Printed by 
LivERMORE & Knight Co., Providence, R. I. 




T SUPPOSE nearly everyone who 
lives in this part of the 
■^vorld has either seen or heard 
the 

''Old Man of the 
Mountain," 

in Franconia, New Hampshire. From 
the picture here given, those who have 
not seen him may form a very good 
idea of his appearance. What a stern 
looking old fellow he is, and how lone- 
some he must be, away up there on the 
mountain all alone ! 



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His condition in winter must h^'^'MiLV 
fearfully desolate, for then the weather',';'' ft/' 
is icy cold, and few care to make hiniv * 
a visit. His friends at that season, prefef"^)^// 
to be away under sunnier skies than 
those w^hich then cover his mountain 
home. 

I am told he very keenly feels this 
neglect, and sometimes shows by a cer- 
tain sarcastic look that he considers most 
of the friendships of this life largely de- 
pendent upon agreeable surroundings. 
Let a poor fellow once be left out m the 
cold, and how quickh^ man}^ of his pre- 
tended friends will desert him. This 
'>lhe old rrLan---onG€- muttered to himself 
J^n a coldi winter night, when, the stai's 

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were hid, and there was nothinor about 
him but intense and awful soHtude. 

There are three very remarkable 

things about him, which thoughtful peo- 

le must ha\e observed. No one has 

been able to ascertam his age. 

earned men have searched records for 

^^'■' it, but all their efforts to find out have 

►een in wain. Then aoam, he never 

'''•allows visitors to see but one side of his 

face. T))'!saw him thirty years ago, and 

the same side was turned to me then, 

that is seen by visitors who go there 

now. Curious people have wondered 

why he is so particular about this, and 

some have gone so far as to suppose 

that he has warts, or ugly spots on the 




other side, which he wishes to hide. 
This may be true, and if it is, no one 
can blame him, for it is just the way 
other men would do, especially if they 
were liable, as he is, to be kodaked at 
any moment, by idle yisitors. They 
certainly would hide their defects and 
try to appear faultless in the picture. 
Another peculiarity about him is, that 
he neyer allows any one to see him ex- 
cept at a distance. A great many people 
haye climbed the mountain where he liyes, 
lor a nearer yiew than can be obtained 
from the yalley below; but when they 
haye come within a certain distance of 
him, he has always disappeared and left 
them only to guess where he had gone. 



I hciA'c heard a orcat many stones 
about this old man, and, without vouch- 
ine for then" truth, I will relate one or 
two which I am sure will interest the 
reader. 

It IS said that years ago, an old In- 
dian succeeded in getting into his pres- 
ence. This was such a remarkable event, 
and so closely connected with one of the 
})eculiarities of which I have spoken, I am 
sure all will agree that the particulars of 
it ought to be recorded. It occurred in 
this way : Years before, the Indian 
had made a visit to a tribe m the far 
south ; (some have said it w^as to that one 
with which the brave and beautiful In- 
dian girl was connected, who saved the 



V 



life of Captain John Smith,) and while 
there, had become acquainted with the 
stranoe and remarkable weed which we 
now call tobacco. He had learned how 
""^"^Gsmoke it, and not only that, but, with 
true Indian curiosity, had carefully no- 
ticed the effect produced upon those 
who used it. He saw that it had power 
to relax the muscles of a \^ery stern | 
face, and sometimes to produce warmth 
and o'eniality where only coldness and 
reserye were usually seen. Indeed, he 
had obseryed cases where people, when 
under its influence, sometimes told se- 
crets which otherwise they might haye 
had the good sense to keep to themselyes. 
When he came home, he brought quite a 






quantity of this tobacco with him, and 
one day while smoking his pipe and look- 
ing upon the mountain, he conceived the 
idea of winning the good graces of the 
old man, by means of a pipe and to- 
bacco. He said to himself, '' If I can 
only once bring him under the influence 
of that magic weed, I shall not only be 
admitted to his presence, but allowed to 
talk with him on familiar terms, as friend 
with friend." How many conquests over 
other strong men have been made in this 
way, since then, I leave the reader to 
imagine. So he made a great pipe out 
of the root of a tree, and, taking that and 
some of his precious tobacco with him, 
he started up the mountain. 






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FortunatcK % the wind, that day, was 
blowing \n the dn'ection of the old 
man, and, when not \ ery far ofi, the In- 
dian blew from his own pipe, a full puff 
of smoke, directly into his face. The old 
fellow, instead of disappearing as the In- 
dian feared he would do, kept his seat 
and appeared almost spellbound. Seeing 
this, the Indian felt sure the time had 
come for accomplishing his purpose, and 
summoning all his courage, he walked 
directly into the old man's presence, and 
offered him the pipe and tobacco which 
he had brought. Of course, those who 
never saw any signs of relenting in that 
stern and weather-beaten face will sup- 
pose the gift was indignantly refused. 



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On the contrary, it was received with 
great eagerness, and after many expres- 
sions of gratitude and delight, and a few 
instructions imparted by the Indian, the 
old man sent out upon the clear atmos- 
phere his first wreath of smoke. 

Then began a long conversation be- 
tween the two, in which the " Old Man 
of the Mountain" told the Indian many 
wonderful stories. I have made a ercat 
many inquiries, but could never find out 
exactly what the stories were. We can 
readily suppose what the character of 
them might have been. Perhaps they 
were about terrific storms which he had 
seen — storms that uprooted trees and 
hurled great rocks from the tops of 



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the mountains to the valleys below ; of 
times when the mountains were a ereat 
deal higher than they now are, and when 
their peaks were always covered with 
snow, and avalanches came thundering 
down their sides ; of wild animals, many 



of which are now extinct, that used to 




^^StSTT)?!!!!!! 



used 1 
iailS" 'wli 



; before Liet Kricss 
^^n'oM'ji^'vv4hardy Norsemen crossed the 
stormy Atlantic; of wonders which, from 
his sublime height, he had seen in the 
heavens above. Perhaps he said that 
m his youth he heard the er^nd an- 
them of the morning stars, spoken of 
in Sacred Writ. How I wish the old 
Indian had recorded the stories he told 




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him, so that I might ^^.(jw^pubhsh them 
in a book. 

The rep(^.v4s, that the interview 
lasted until nightfall, when the old man 
bade the Indian depart, and then, wrap- 
pino- himself 4^ '^ cloud, S(M)n fell into 
a sound slefe^^"^' ^v> ' r' ( ' ' 

That nio^ht he had a strah'o^e dream 
which filled him with anxiety and alarm. 
Like most dreams, it was much confused, 
but apparently was of serious import. 
It was about oathermos of excited men, 
rolls of lettered parchment, devastated 
forests, frightful explosions, raging fires 
lighting up the whole heavens, polluted 
streams of water, rumbling noises, snort- 
ing monsters darting through the valleys, 



hasty flights of birds, howhngs of wild 
beasts; all so terrible, it is difficult to 
repeat the story without a shudder ! Now 
the old man always attached great im- 
portance to dreams. He often had them, 
and would spend many of his waking 
hours in trying to make out their mean- 
ing. This special dream was so unusual 
and startlino- that for a while it absorbed 
all his thoughts. Indeed, it affected him 
so that for many nights he could not 
sleep. The only meaning which he 
could make out of it, was — that by-and- 
by, pale faced men would come into that 
region and make sad havoc of his old 
home ; that in the name of what would 
be called a State, portions of his sublime 



■^T'a- 



inheritance would be seized and without 
sense, sentifnent or shame, and only for 
a paltr\' sum,^sojd to selfish men who, to 
o"ratifv a orreed for oain would cut down 
the orrand old trees which for ao^es had 
adorned his mountain home; they would 
kill the wild animals that were his com- 
panions and pets; would frighten away 
the birds of beautiful plumage and song 
which always awakened him in the morn- 
ing and cheered his early evening hours; 
they would defile the brooks and lakes 
where lived and disported the speckled 
trout; and in many ways shamefully deface 
the beauties and m'andeur of his home. 
Now can the reader wonder that he was 
frightened when he awoke, and that he 




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then made a vow which he has always '^^*" 

faithfully kept — that no human being 
should ever again appear in his imme- 
diate presence. -^ 

I have heard another very--smgular^ 
story, which I think will be of interest to 
children. ^-^ 

An eagle once built her nest in the 
the old man's nose. How she ever dared 
do it, I cannot miagme, for the danger 
was very great. If she had been found 
out, the old fellow, with one blast, 
would have sent her scootino" down the 
side of the mountain. But I presume 
she did the work in early morning, 
while he was asleep. " Now," said the 
eagle to herself, after the nest was done. 



/ 



'''/what a fine chance to hatch and brine 
, up a family of eag-lets ! I am in a place 
sheltered from the storms, and where 
no one will think to hunt for my nest." 
So she laid her eggs and all went on 
very well, until the first cadet was 
hatched, when she was so delighted to 
have become the mother of a little baby 
eagle, she began to flap her wings with 
all her might. This, of course, was a 
very imprudent thing to do, and she 
ought to have known better, for it tickled 
the old man's nose, so that he bei^^an 
to sneeze. Now, ycni know what a 
great commotion it makes when your 
mamma sneezes. Perhaps it bursts a 
few buttons from her dress, and fright- 






ens the kitt\\ which happens at the time 
to be sleeping- before the fire; so vou 
can understand what a sneeze from tlie 
old man must ha\'e been. It was so 
violent, all who heard it must have feared 
the ''crack of doom" had finally come. 
Rocks and trees were sent flyinir throuoh 
the air, bears and other wild animals, 
roaming in the forest, were frightened 
and scampered away, the eagle screamed, 
and some Indians who were fishine in a 
lake near bv thought it thundered. 

>V'Now, my young friends, the next 
time you go to the White Mountains I 
wish you would find the oldest inhabitant 
of that region and ask him if these stories 
are probably true. 








- Je '10 




That Old Man 
AND HIS Dream. 



